When the first series of "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" aired in Britain Lady Thatcher reigned the United Kingdom with her iron fist and work was scarcer than ever. As the Dire Straits would later put it in "Why Aye Man", the soundtrack of series 3: Many had no way of staying afloat, so they had to leave on the ferry boat - economic refugees, on the run to Germany... And here we have the story of the construction workers from Newcastle. With that premise the scenario is set for one of the greatest lads centered series that ever hit the television screen. Their journey over the years leads the guys also to Spain, Arizona or Cuba to name just a few locations, but these are just changing backdrops. The camaraderie is the same throughout all the lads' escapades, and that's what it's all about. The character mix is crafted beautifully by the writers and then played exactly by the right men for the jobs. The selection of the magnificent seven ranges from the man of action and thus unofficial leader Dennis (Tim Healy) over Neville, heavily dominated by his marriage vows (Kevin Whatley), womanizer Wayne as his counterpart (Gary Holton), loudmouth and oddball Oz (Jimmy Nail) to the bashful, boring and bumbling Barry (Timothy Spall), the gentle giant Bomber (Pat Roach) and finally to Moxey (Christopher Fairbank), who has his own troubles with the law.
"Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" deals with the working class, portraying the day to day life from laying bricks to drinking in the evening, but it's TV for everyone interested in good drama peppered with working class humor. And the brickies know how to build their stuff on reality. An alternative to artificially constructed, highly polished studio productions, "Pet" features guys that feel like lads, complete with heavy accents, and while it all is very eighties, the first two series definitely hold up and are as engaging as when they aired. Too bad that with the death of a key cast member things went downhill from there in the subsequent episodes made more than 15 years later. While series three still is good, the rest of the episodes cannot compete in any way with the original series. Nevertheless, if you're fed up with crime shows and high budget TV from the US rehashing the most common denominator recipe again and again, then take a nostalgic look back, and join the lads' visit to Germany - 'cause that's livin' alright!
"Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" deals with the working class, portraying the day to day life from laying bricks to drinking in the evening, but it's TV for everyone interested in good drama peppered with working class humor. And the brickies know how to build their stuff on reality. An alternative to artificially constructed, highly polished studio productions, "Pet" features guys that feel like lads, complete with heavy accents, and while it all is very eighties, the first two series definitely hold up and are as engaging as when they aired. Too bad that with the death of a key cast member things went downhill from there in the subsequent episodes made more than 15 years later. While series three still is good, the rest of the episodes cannot compete in any way with the original series. Nevertheless, if you're fed up with crime shows and high budget TV from the US rehashing the most common denominator recipe again and again, then take a nostalgic look back, and join the lads' visit to Germany - 'cause that's livin' alright!